Around the Farm: June 22, 2014

Around the Farm takes a quick look at some of yesterday’s performances by Cleveland prospects throughout the system. The positions listed below are where the player was playing in yesterday’s game.

Ryan Merritt (SP, Carolina): 8.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R/ER, 1 BB, 5 K. Merritt had another stellar outing for Carolina needing just 87 pitches (62 strikes) to get through 8.0 innings. His quick work and efficient pitch usage are just another example of how consistent he is every time he tows the rubber. He now ranks 1st in the Carolina League in wins (7), ERA (1.61) and WHIP (0.93), and is 2nd in innings pitched (84.0) and 10th in strikeouts (64). With those numbers and the way he is dominating his current level you would have to believe that a promotion to Double-A Akron is going to happen soon. Perhaps it doesn’t happen until after the All Star break.

Roberto Perez (C, Columbus): 1-for-4, R, HR, RBI, K. Perez’s bat has quieted down some since his big tear with the batting average in April, but he’s actually settled in quite well and is having a strong month of June hitting .278 with 2 HR, 13 RBI and .852 OPS.

Audy Ciriaco (SS, Columbus): 3-for-4, 3 R, 2B, HR, 2 RBI, K. With Jose Ramirez sidelined with a hamstring injury Ciriaco will continue to get some regular playing time. He’s made the most of it hitting .244 with 4 HR, 10 RBI and .993 OPS in the month of June.

Tyler Cloyd (SP, Columbus): 7.0 IP, 4 H, 4 R/ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 1 HR. Cloyd has really settled into the Columbus rotation since the middle of May and is giving good starts and pitching deep into them on a consistent basis. Over his last 10 starts he is 4-2 with a 3.79 ERA and has average 6.0 IP.

Austin Adams (RP, Columbus): 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K. Adams still is not getting regular work as he has pitched once every three games – by design – so until the Indians start using him more regular and in some back-to-back situations it is hard to consider him a callup option anytime soon.

Ronny Rodriguez (1B, Akron): 3-for-5, R, 2B, K. After a poor April showing (.130 AVG, .331 OPS), Ronny Rod looks like he has righted the ship with two strong months in May (.269/.775) and so far in June (.292/.733). He continues to move around the diamond and fill in where needed.

Joe Wendle (2B, Akron): 2-for-5, 2 R, 2B, HR, 2 RBI, 2 K. Wendle is another player who got off to a slow start in April (.193 AVG, .615 OPS) but who has turned it on in May (.277/.777) and is smoking hot in June (.321/.887). Over his last 10 games he is hitting a blistering .415 with 2 HR, 11 RBI and 1.139 OPS.

Anthony Gallas (LF, Akron): 1-for-3, 2B, RBI, K. Gallas is doing his best to show that he belongs in the Akron lineup as he is hitting .356 with 2 HR, 7 RBI and .985 OPS in his 11 games there since his promotion. He has a hit in 9 of his 11 games – six of them the multi-hit variety.

Justin Toole (3B, Akron): 2-for-3, R, RBI, BB, K. Toole continues to fill in where needed and is the consummate organizational soldier. He knows his role and does it quite well, and he actually hits a little too. His at bats have been limited but he is hitting .284 with a .705 OPS and nice 8-6 walk to strikeout ratio.

Duke von Schamann (SP, Akron): 5.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R/ER, 5 BB, 1 K. Coming into this game von Schamann had allowed just 13 walks in 75.0 innings pitched this season, but for whatever reason he didn’t have the command in this one. Even with all the traffic he really toughed it out and gave up just the three runs.

Louis Head (RP, Akron): 1.1 IP, 1 H, R/ER, 4 BB, 0 K. Head is another guy who struggled with his command in this contest. He was fortunate to only give up the one run and he has had some early struggles adjusting to the Double-A level as he sports a 6.75 ERA and 8-8 walk to strikeout ratio in 6 appearances with Akron.

LeVon Washington (LF, Carolina): 2-for-5, R, 2 K. Washington has remained in the lineup the last four weeks and he continues to hit well. In 31 games he is now hitting .325 with 1 HR, 12 RBI and .839 OPS. He’s really been locked in over his last 10 games hitting .390 with a .929 OPS and 7-9 walk to strikeout ratio.

Yandy Diaz (3B, Carolina): 2-for-4, R, 2B, 4 RBI, K. Diaz is proving to be a streaky hitter in his still very brief minor league career. When he hits, he tends to get them in bunches. Over his last 10 games he has been held hitless in five of them but has had multi-hit games in the other five.

Jeremy Lucas (C, Carolina): 2-for-4, K. Lucas continues forward with his solid season at the plate and has emerged as one of the leaders in the Carolina lineup. On the season he is hitting .256 with 6 HR, 33 RBI, .771 OPS and a nice 34-39 walk to strikeout ratio.

Alex Monsalve (DH, Carolina): 2-for-4, R, 2B, SB. Monsalve had a good game in this one, but he has had trouble stringing together the good performances this season. He’s really fallen back as a prospect and has disappointed at the plate hitting just .242 with a .627 OPS through 49 games this season.

Logan Vick (RF-CF, Lake County): 3-for-4, 2 RBI, 1 K, CS. Boy did Vick ever need a game like this. He entered the game in a 2-for-35 slump over his last nine games but broke out of the slump in a big way. He is still hitting just .179 through 54 games this season, though amazingly has a .318 on-base percentage thanks to his ability to draw walks.

Clint Frazier (CF, Lake County): 1-for-3, K. For those that actually looked at the box score and saw that Frazier was removed from this game, do not worry as he did not get hurt. He was ejected from the game by the home plate umpire.

Eric Haase (C, Lake County): 2-for-4, R, 2B, HR, 2 RBI. Gee, no surprise here. Haase racks up two more extra base hits and now has 25 of them on the season. Considering he has just 46 hits all season that is an amazing percentage (54.3%) of hits that were going for extra bases.

Jordan Milbrath (SP, Lake County): 5.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K. Milbrath earned just his second win of the season and had a strong outing in this one. This outing was a return to his earlier season form and a lot of his success came from the simple fact he did not walk anyone.

Caleb Hamrick (RP, Lake County): 3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K. Hamrick has really struggled this season, but he looks like he is starting to turn some things around of late. He has not allowed an earned run over his last four outings covering 11.2 innings

Carlos Melo (RP, Lake County): 0.1 IP, 2 H, 3 R/ER, 3 BB, 1 K. I get that Melo is just inventory at this point and filling in where needed. I also get why the Indians are intrigued by him since he throws very hard. But he just has no idea where the ball is going as he has allowed 20 walks in 13.0 innings this year.

Greg Allen (CF, Mahoning Valley): 3-for-5, 4 R, 3B, RBI. Allen has a big night in his pro debut. This kind of production and on-base ability at the top of the lineup is exciting and it will be interesting how he performs on a day-to-day basis going forward.

Steven Patterson (2B, Mahoning Valley): 3-for-5, 2 R, 2 2B, 3 RBI, BB, K. Patterson made his pro debut and had just as impressive a night as Allen. He reached base in four of his six plate appearances and showed an ability to drive the ball. He should be the regular second baseman from here on out.

Jorge Martinez (LF, Mahoning Valley): 3-for-6, 2 R, 2B, 3 RBI, 2 K. Martinez is off to a good start at Mahoning Valley hitting .324 with a .996 OPS in nine games. He still needs to show more consistency as 9 of his 11 hits have come in four games.

Taylor Murphy (RF, Mahoning Valley): 2-for-5, 2 RBI, BB, K. Yet another pro debut for the Scrappers on Sunday. While a small step down from the big nights from Patterson and Allen, this was still a good showing as he reached base in three of his six plate appearances.

Drake Roberts (SS, Mahoning Valley): 2-for-5, 2 R, 2B, 2 RBI. Roberts is going to move around the diamond and see time at all of the infield spots. He’s hit well over his last few games and has recorded exactly two hits in each of his last three games.

Julian Merryweather (SP, Mahoning Valley): 3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K. Merryweather faced nine hitters and set them all down. He has now made two appearances and totaled 5.0 innings, and he has yet to allow a hit or run and has allowed just one walk while striking out two. He keeps this up and he will be in Lake County rather quickly.

Justin Garcia (RP, Mahoning Valley): 2.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K. A dominant 2.2 innings of work for Garcia who has now thrown 7.0 shutout innings so far this season over three appearances.

Anthony Vizcaya (RP, Mahoning Valley): 3.1 IP, 5 H, 5 R/ER, 4 BB, 4 K, 1 HR. If you ever wanted evidence why the wins-losses stat for pitchers is a rather useless stat, this is your example. Vizcaya was torched but “earned” the win while the other two pitchers totaled 5.0 shutout innings. He got the win because he pitched the middle innings and was the pitcher of record after the fifth inning.

Silento Sayles (CF, AZL Indians): 2-for-4, BB, CS. Sayles has played in just two games so far but has two hits in each of them. He also has 3 walks which is just as impressive and has reached base in 7 of his first 10 plate appearances this season.

Willi Castro (2B, AZL Indians): 2-for-5, R, HR, RBI, K. Castro is a prospect to keep an eye on as he was one of the Indians top International prospects coming into the season. He has recorded at least one hit in all three games played so far this season and he has homered in two straight games.

Bobby Bradley (DH, AZL Indians): 1-for-5, R, K. Bradley made his pro debut and managed to record a hit and score a run in the process. He is very young and will be brought along slowly, so while he will play regularly in Arizona he probably will sit at least two games a week.

David Armendariz (RF, AZL Indians): 2-for-5, 3B, RBI, 2 K. A solid pro debut for Armendariz who ripped a triple though struck out twice. The Indians have a lot of outfielders on the AZL roster so there should be a constant shuffling of players in and out of the lineup each game.

Jodd Carter (LF, AZL Indians): 0-for-3, BB, K. And yet another pro debut for the Indians as Carter makes it an even half dozen who made their pro debuts on Sunday.

Shao-Ching Chiang (SP, AZL Indians): 5.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R/ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 1 HR. A solid first outing this season for Chiang. He has actually missed a ton of time the past two seasons because of injury, so if he has a good showing in Arizona he very well could move to Mahoning Valley or Lake County rather quickly.

Francisco Lopez (RP, AZL Indians): 4.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K. This is a very nice season debut from Lopez and is a continuation from his strong showing in the DSL last year where he went 0-3 with a 1.83 ERA in 12 appearances (8 starts), and in 39.1 innings allowed 32 hits, 2 homers, 18 walks and had 47 strikeouts.

User Comments

Tony

June 24, 2014 - 9:35 AM EDT

I think Washington has a very good shot at Akron, although there are several outfielders already there so it will make it difficult for him to get there unless someone gets hurt. Plus, Myles may be back in a month. Luigi Rodriguez should stay in Carolina all year.

Norm

June 24, 2014 - 6:30 AM EDT

As an observation Tony, there seems to less promotions thus far than usual. I am guessing it is because of the bottleneck of talent in Akron position players. Once the AA all-star games out of the way, do you think some bigger name promotions will open several changes? I was wondering if you see either LRod or Wash as AA possible? You have been down on both this year but it looks like they are making some progress.

Although I do not see deep pitching talent, it seems that little will get done unless they do something at Carolina and it looks like a shortage of promoteable arms from LC with Aviles shelved. There is some talented arms at LC but they do not look ready to me. It just looks like a long wait for any potential TOR starter. Am I being too negative?

Ryan

June 23, 2014 - 5:32 PM EDT

The amount of high-quality prospects coming in from this draft class along with the international guys making their stateside debut, along with the the hold-overs makes me think that the short-season leagues should allow teams to play like my softball league, have as many DHs as they want and just extend out the lineup. I mean this draft alone, they have brought in 3 new starting-level OFers to MVH along with a few MIFers.

Homer

June 23, 2014 - 2:12 PM EDT

Nice to see Greg Allen make an impressive debut, I really like him. Speed, defense, light on power, but a very good player that could move qkly. He might be a nice trade chip later, if nothing else.

Homer

June 23, 2014 - 2:11 PM EDT

Nice to

Walter

June 23, 2014 - 1:08 PM EDT

With the CWS ending this week, I'm assuming that the Indians will bring Papi to Cleveland to sign his contract when they come back from the West Coast. Would it be wise to start Papi at LC since there is so many OF's in MV. I think for some to get playing time Indians might have to move couple of them to LC.

Tondo

June 23, 2014 - 12:53 PM EDT

Where is Sicnarf Loopstok? Don't see him on any roster. Injured or already released?
Also, where is Dunatov? He is signed but does not appear on any roster. What's the plan with him? Power reliever?

The lower minors are now stacked and there will be some tough battles for the LC and Carolina rosters next year and some tough cuts of performing lower priority prospects.

Nice start by W.Castro, but after Paulino, Romero and others I just can't get too excited about any spec, especially Latin's, flashing power in the AZL, but still, that kind of start is better than doing nothing. It's a hitter's league though. A good K:BB ratio and good pitching is more significant for future success.

Any information on Y.Marquina's conversion from C to pitcher? He was a fairly big international investment.

Ben Shorto is also worth noting. If only for the fact that he's a prospect signed from Australia. There was another Australian in the org just some years ago, but the name escapes me now

Tony

June 23, 2014 - 12:38 PM EDT

It is going to be very interesting to see how all of those outfielders get playing time in MV, especially once Zimmer plays as expected tonight or tomorrow. Obviously, Zimmer will have priority and will play almost every day....but there are a lot of interesting guys that need time at MV.

As far as players in the AZL worth watching, the top names to follow are Yu-Chen Chang, Willi Castro, Bobby Bradley, Alexis Pantoja, Grofi Cruz, Simeon Lucas, Leandro Linares and Casey Shane. Others will come out of the woodwork. The DSL is always tough to get a feel for since I don't see them and such....Junior Soto is one to keep an eye on and really the only one I have seen or heard about. Over 80% of these guys won't even get to the states.

shy

June 23, 2014 - 11:30 AM EDT

Tony with the major league club stinkin' up the joint, the news from the farm teams, the AZL in particular, is most interesting and welcome. First year I can remember where I feel the Indians have done a really good job signing newbies. With the big league club getting painful to watch, columns like this may be our best connection to hope for better times. Thanks

Hiram

June 23, 2014 - 9:40 AM EDT

Tony,

is it any players in the DSL and ASL that we should be watching??

Walter

June 23, 2014 - 9:04 AM EDT

Is tonight the nite that Zimmer makes his pro debut? Do you believe by having McAdams and Martinez repeating at MHV has led of having to many outfielders in MHV and Arizona? I'm glad that both have had success so far for the Scrappers.

Nikolaos

June 23, 2014 - 8:55 AM EDT

Julian Merryweather, Greg Allen and Steven Patterson could be some sleepers from this current draft. I loved the Indians Picks from 1st round to round 15 and I think some of the guys around the middle of these rounds are going to suprise some people. Things are looking up for our farm system and I sure hope that the changes Mirabelli and his staff have made with their approach turns out to be sustainable and productive.